This week in the land of missionaries, we are learning how to evangelize. You'd think we'd already have this down seeing as how we are going to Uganda to evangelize. But no, we don't know everything. Shocking I know. Our teacher du jour is Paul Trout. He is an old pro at missions since he grew up as a missionary kid in the jungles. Mr. Trout has 11 kids...yes you read that right. How many kids he has has nothing to do with evangelism but I wanted to throw that in because it amazes me. Anyway, back to our class. This week we each had to pick a book out of a stack and read it and give an oral report. All the books obviously had to do with evangelism. I was lucky enough to pick up the book entitled Conspiracy of Kindness by Steve Sjogren.
This book is radical in such a simple way. "Christians and non-Christians have one thing in common: They both hate evangelism." Don't deny it. Unless you were gifted with an ability to rush up to strangers and tell them they are hell-bound, you probably don't jump at any chance to "evangelize" someone. I have been going about it all wrong. I admit it. Here is what the author said about his mistakes, "After five years of enthusiastically offending people for the Lord, I could see the fruit of my efforts all around me: I had traumatized most of my friends, relative, and neighbors. I told myself I was being rejected because I loved God so much, but my victims didn't see any love at all in what I'd done. I had managed to ostracize all of my family and friends in the name of the Lord." And he also says, "Looking back, talking with me must have been as exciting as going to the dentist. What I shared during that time was the truth, but the package in which the message came wrapped was incredibly unloving and insensitive. At that time I was in actuality functioning more as a soul alienator than a soul winner."
So the key is there is no love in some evangelism. All we are doing is shouting at people in a language they don't understand. The other problem is that we (I) make myself more important than we (I) should. Steve Sjogren says this about it: "We will never know many things until we begin to see our perpetual lack of wisdom apart from God's intervention in our lives. Zeal for God can be a wondrous weapon if we walk in the attitude Jeremiah 33:3 suggests. Unfortunately, we often forget the source of all wisdom and strength and attempt to go it alone when we approach evangelism. I used to feel that a person's coming to know Christ was a direct result of my efforts and that I was obligated to get him or her to make that decision. I saw myself as the one delivering others to God's doorstep."
And also this: "In my attempts to evangelize, I would also put pressure on those hearing the gospel, usually in the form of fear which I swung as an ax over their heads. Many times I would prematurely push people to pray regardless of how they felt or what they understood. Once I had engaged people in a conversation about God, I would always ask them before leaving if they wanted to accept Christ. Many who teach on evangelism present this practice as something positive. I now believe that this is often an inappropriate and untimely question to blurt out to an unprepared stranger. On the many occasions I succeeded in getting a stranger to pray a sinner's prayer with me, I wonder how many did so just to get me off their back."
This is not how it is supposed to be. The main idea I have gleaned from this book is about servant evangelism. The author uses this equation: Servant evangelism = deeds of love + words of love + adequate time.
Deeds of love: Deeds of love allow us to sneak into the hearts of those we serve. Even though people aren't conscious of what's happening, they are welcoming us and the God we represent into the fortress of their hearts. Deeds of love aren't enough on their own to bring someone to Christ, but they do create "phone wires" for transmitting the spoken message.
Words of love: Deeds of kindness get people's attention and often cause them to ask us questions. Instead of having a forced presentation of the gospel to people who aren't interested in what we have to say, we find people are curious and ask us to explain what we're about after we've served them. Then we can present the message which is vital in bringing someone to Christ without taking a sales approach.
Adequate time: We need to allow time for deeds and words of love to have their effect on the hearts of people.
So how does this work practically? This author takes groups from his church around in their community and offer to clean bathrooms at restaurants, rake leaves, wash cars, fill expired parking meters, etc. The response they get is often, "Why are you really doing this? You want me to join your church don't you?". To this the author says, "You're sure welcome to come to our church, but more than anything we are here because this is the way Jesus walked on the earth." Radical? Not really. "The focus shifts from what the Lord is doing to reflecting on the glory days---what the Lord WAS doing." What would happen if we all got out of our comfy seats in church and served the community around us? Worse case scenario? We might miss one of our favorite reality shows or possibly get a bleach stain on our designer jeans while cleaning someone's bathroom. Forgive me for sounding self righteous, I am preaching to myself here too.
I am challenged by this book and this approach which I believe is biblical. Have I rushed out to do any good works? Not, I'm not done with the book yet! But I am intrigued and excited to try this. I encourage you all to do something radical like, gee I don't know...serve someone in a humble way. You can start by coming to Libby and rubbing my feet. Just a suggestion. Surprise the lost with kindness...join the conspiracy!
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